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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28462437">This Is Not A Nap</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiresFromOurHearts/pseuds/FiresFromOurHearts'>FiresFromOurHearts</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Overworked Hikaku Chronicles [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Communication, Familial Love, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Things will get better, Uchiha Izuna Lives, hospital visits, is important</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:01:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,667</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28462437</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiresFromOurHearts/pseuds/FiresFromOurHearts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The room is silent and still and Hikaku is still pale as death. Madara and Izuna watch over him as he sleeps and realise things that they should've picked up on earlier.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Uchiha Hikaku &amp; Uchiha Izuna &amp; Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Izuna &amp; Uchiha Madara</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Overworked Hikaku Chronicles [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070147</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Genuary 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>This Is Not A Nap</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you alright?” Madara asks, and there’s nothing cautious in his tone. He’s blunt, but he’s there. He knows how Izuna’s feeling, even though Izuna himself doesn’t really know.</p><p>The hospital hasn’t been built yet, not properly. As a result, Hikaku is in the Uchiha Clan Compound, in a vacant building that’d been slated to be used as a restaurant. It’s now been turned into a makeshift hospital housing one patient. Most people only need brief medical aid and then they can go.</p><p>Most people don’t get poisoned, aren’t suffering chakra exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and a whole host of other injuries and problems. Apparently, it’s lucky that Hikaku’s actually kept his arm. Izuna hears what everyone’s not saying though. It’s lucky that Hikaku made it back to Konoha with the state he was in. It says a lot more about Hikaku, and his strength, than anything else has.</p><p>Izuna doesn’t know whether he’s thankful that he didn’t see Hikaku stumble to the gates or angry because he wasn’t there.</p><p>“Izuna?” Oh, that’s Madara’s I’m-worried-about-you voice. Izuna should probably answer that as he’s not extremely pale or hospitalised or been asleep for twenty-eight hours, thirteen minutes, and forty-eight seconds.</p><p>He swallows. “I’ve been better,” he says, because he does try to avoid lying about things like this. And it’s hard to lie, to tease, when Hikaku is so still and so silent in front of him.</p><p>The worst thing about it all, Izuna thinks, is the fact that Hikaku had been so worried and panicked that Madara had to talk him down and disarm him before medics could get close. It’s been… a long time since Madara or Izuna have had to do that. Not since the war, at the very least. And they’ve never had to do it to Hikaku coming back from a battle or a mission, only when he’d awoken from his nightmares and gone straight for the kill.</p><p>It’s startling. To remember that Hikaku is like all of them, with his triggers and his battle-readiness, and his panic. He only ever seems calm and settled and… and the opposite of Izuna, he sometimes thinks.</p><p>“So have I,” Madara says with a sigh. “He’s going to be okay, you know. He’s going to be alright and he’s going to get through this.”</p><p>“I might kill him first,” Izuna says, and he’s only half-joking. Better to be half-joking than crying though. Izuna’s always known that. “Taking a mission when he’s sleep deprived and exhausted and everything else.”</p><p>Madara hums. And Izuna glances at him, because that had been the there’s-more-to-this-than-you-think hum. “What is it?” Izuna demands. Because if there’s more to this, then he wants to know. There’s no point sitting in ignorance. And… And this is <em>Hikaku</em>. If there’s more to it than simple overworking and exhaustion, Izuna wants to know. He deserves to know.</p><p>He wants to do better.</p><p>Slowly, Madara says, “I checked on the work situation since Hikaku obviously can’t do it. Not now and not for the next few days after he wakes. Especially as he’s meant to be resting and taking it easy. And… How much of the Clan Head paperwork have you been doing?”</p><p>A tingle runs down Izuna’s spine. It’s that kind of feeling you get when you know something’s about to go really, really wrong. He swallows. “Not much,” he says. “I thought you had a handle on all of it?”</p><p>“And I thought you were doing it,” Madara says. “A lot of it… A lot of the paperwork and smaller things, I assumed, were being handled by you.”</p><p>“But I wasn’t,” Izuna says. “I haven’t been doing that for the longest thing. I’ve been helping you on all your major projects and problems. Not to mention, I’ve been helping as a battle commander and all that. Where did you think I had all the time to do that <em>plus</em> your paperwork?”</p><p>Madara offers a helpless shrug. “I didn’t know how you were doing it and I worried,” he says. “But you weren’t doing it.”</p><p>“And I thought you were doing it,” Izuna says, slowly, and the realisation that’s forming in his mind is horrific. “Are you saying…” He trails off, glancing at Hikaku.</p><p>“Yeah,” Madara agrees, tipping his head back to look at the bland ceiling. “Hikaku’s been doing our work for years and most of the clan knows it. I’m… awful at paperwork. I know this, you know this, and so does the rest of the clan. A lot of things just don’t work or click for me.”</p><p>They’re brothers. Often, they’re as different as could be. Sometimes, they’re far too alike. In this, they are too similar. “Wait,” Izuna says, a cold feeling rushing over him. It feels like he dived head-first into a freezing river. “All those times we joked about giving Hikaku paperwork and more tasks, did we do that? Did he take that onboard?” He looks at Madara, who looks guilty and worried. A furrow seems to have engraved itself into his forehead.</p><p>“Yes,” Madara says at last. “Which means all the problems he brought forward and all the solutions and everything else…”</p><p>“Weren’t just spur of the moment thoughts,” Izuna says. “Fuck.”</p><p>At that, Madara smiles. A small thing that pulls at his lips more than anything else. “Yeah,” he says. “Fuck.”</p><p>“And then we gave him more work,” Izuna realises. “We made him Uchiha liaison on top of being, what, acting Clan Head? And we both dropped our duties a bit more on him but we didn’t give him anything official and-”</p><p>“And Hikaku won’t take help as a favour or anything,” Madara continues, aggrieved. “Without official power and authority, he won’t delegate, especially not if such a thing could be construed as a favour.”</p><p>“So he just did it all without complaint,” Izuna concludes. And. Well. That puts a whole new spin on the exhausted look Hikaku was always sporting. Izuna had been assuming it was just the move or something, although Hikaku has been looking like that for a while.</p><p>“And that’s why he’s here,” Madara says. “Exhausted and overworking himself and not asking for help.” There’s guilt there, threaded throughout Madara’s words. Anger at himself. Blame. The same things Izuna feels. They’re meant to lead the Uchiha Clan. More than that, Hikaku swore fealty to them, to the clan, and they’re meant to protect him in turn. Not work him into his own death.</p><p>“We have to do better,” Izuna says, at long last, looking at the deathly still figure Hikaku presents. His arm, still heavily bandaged, is the only major injury. But there are dark bruises pressed against his skin, scratches that have now scabbed over. Beneath his eyes, dark eye bags rest, and he frowns even in his sleep. “We have to.”</p><p>“We do,” Madara says. “We’ll have to create a position from him. Give him the power to delegate. Take on board some of the work.”</p><p>“That’ll be an argument and a half with the Elders,” Izuna says, and there’s only determination there. It’ll likely be a shouting match more than anything else, as the Elders frequently oppose things that go against traditions and creating a new position just for Hikaku is definitely something that fits in that category. For Hikaku, however, Izuna would gladly fight the world.</p><p>“A necessary one,” Madara says with no disagreement. Izuna knows he feels the same way. Hikaku is theirs, an Uchiha, but he’s also their cousin and the only family they have left, technically. “Go sleep, Izuna. I’ll take watch. We’ll figure everything out when Hikaku is up again.”</p><p>“We’re going to need to talk to him.”</p><p>“With him,” Madara corrects, “but yes. We need to remind him what we owe him.”</p><p>Izuna huffs a laugh. Hikaku frequently waves off praise and compliments and getting him to talk about himself is a chore. “Good luck with that.”</p><p>“This is not a ‘me’ conversation,” Madara says, just a touch of command in his tone, “this is an us conversation.” Which, yeah, Izuna agrees with that. It’ll be a tough conversation though. But…</p><p>“We’ll be better now,” Izuna says, not to Madara but to Hikaku, who lays silent and asleep and almost died because Izuna and Madara hadn’t been paying enough attention to him. They’ve never been responsible for someone’s death out of sheer negligence and it’s not about to start now. Though, Izuna still feels worry beneath his skin at how close it got.</p><p>“We’ll figure something out,” Madara says, because he’s the best brother that Izuna could possibly ask for. “And we’ll make sure he’s involved in our lives too. No more ducking out of conversations or dinners or leaving us with our partners. We’ll make sure he looks after himself too.”</p><p>It’s been a while since Madara and Izuna have had to take such a massive role in Hikaku’s life. The other’s been self-sufficient for years now. But…</p><p>Once upon a time, Hikaku had parents and four siblings. Now he has no one but Madara and Izuna. It’s easy to forget, sometimes, when Hikaku makes no mention of it and never really seems to be in mourning, whilst Izuna feels like he can never stop mourning. However, in the aftermath of the battle that had taken Hikaku’s remaining family, Izuna had kept Hikaku from death—or that’s how it felt, at least. Hikaku hadn’t been raging or angry or anything, just… numb. That had been the most dangerous bit, it felt.</p><p>Then, one day, everything seemed to return to normal and Hikaku slowly smiled again, laughed again, cried too. But looking after Hikaku then had never been a hardship. They’re family. And looking out for each other, making sure you look after yourself, that’s just what family does. Helping without question.</p><p>“Yeah,” Izuna says, yawning. He shuffles in his chair, rearranging his limbs so that he can rest his head on Madara’s shoulder. “You got watch?”</p><p>“I do,” Madara says. “Sleep.” And so Izuna does.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Alright so, we're moving into the thick of things! Unfortunately, Hikaku is still asleep so we don't get to see him here. But we do get the Uchiha bros with all their worry.</p><p>Now about the stuff Izuna was talking about in regards to Madara talking Hikaku down. In this series, I decided to follow the idea that Madara and Izuna often faced ninjas who weren't operated at their best and just lashing out, and so the Uchiha are trained to respond to the Clan Head/Heir even when they're like half dead or something. As seen in Hikaku's case, he had no idea who was an enemy or an ally and Madara talking to him let him trust Madara that everything was going to be alright and he was safe. </p><p>Anyway, I don't have much to say about this fic. I just hope you enjoyed it! This is also your daily reminder to take care of yourself which includes, but isn't limited to, drinking water, eating something, having a stretch, getting enough sleep (or taking a nap). </p><p>I'll see you in the next part of this series wherein Madara gets to have a conversation with Hikaku.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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